Anyone had a sofa fumigated for moths?

[divorcingjack]

So we are nearing the end of our build (finally!!) and have been looking for furniture. Of course, it being the end of the build, we have pretty much zero cash to afford the style and quality  of stuff that we like. We've been looking at mid-century sofas and have found a cracker fairly locally. It's solid wood frame, original 1960's danish design, original wool upholstery.....

 

This is where the problem comes in - we can't afford to have the whole thing reupholstered for probably a year or so, so we were going to live with it slightly shabby looking while we save up and our kids get out of the "drawing on stuff" stage. I knew it had a couple of little holes but I'm not too bothered about them. However, the seller has just got back to me to tell me that they have discovered a couple of moth holes and a couple of dead moths. Should I just forget this altogether, or is there a way of treating it? 

 

No carpets in the house, probably no wool rugs. A few merino jumpers and a bit of tweed. 

 

We can store it off-site for a while until we move in if necessary. 

 

Cheers for any advice, 

dj

[vivienz]

If you store it now, it may well need new upholstery by the time you bring it home as moths are voracious and this is getting to their busy season. The eggs will be nicely embedded in the fabric now with little chance of removing them.

 

I treated my carpets at home with thorough vacuuming and spraying with flea spray. It worked for a while but I wasn't persistent enough and the moths won in the end.

 

[Ferdinand]

2 hours ago, divorcingjack said:

So we are nearing the end of our build (finally!!) and have been looking for furniture. Of course, it being the end of the build, we have pretty much zero cash to afford the style and quality  of stuff that we like. We've been looking at mid-century sofas and have found a cracker fairly locally. It's solid wood frame, original 1960's danish design, original wool upholstery.....

 

This is where the problem comes in - we can't afford to have the whole thing reupholstered for probably a year or so, so we were going to live with it slightly shabby looking while we save up and our kids get out of the "drawing on stuff" stage. I knew it had a couple of little holes but I'm not too bothered about them. However, the seller has just got back to me to tell me that they have discovered a couple of moth holes and a couple of dead moths. Should I just forget this altogether, or is there a way of treating it? 

 

No carpets in the house, probably no wool rugs. A few merino jumpers and a bit of tweed. 

 

We can store it off-site for a while until we move in if necessary. 

 

Cheers for any advice, 

dj

 

if you have time to wait, find a friend of a friend who works in a furniture factory as an upholsterererer.

 

I have such a tenant, which is perhaps  an unfair advantage :-).

 

I have no idea where furniture is made for Scotland.

 

F

Edited April 29, 2019 by Ferdinand

[divorcingjack]

3 hours ago, vivienz said:

If you store it now, it may well need new upholstery by the time you bring it home as moths are voracious and this is getting to their busy season. The eggs will be nicely embedded in the fabric now with little chance of removing them.

 

I treated my carpets at home with thorough vacuuming and spraying with flea spray. It worked for a while but I wasn't persistent enough and the moths won in the end.

 

 Bugger. This is what I was concerned about tbh. We do (unusually, I admit) have access to a walk in industrial freezer. If we left it in there for a while, do you think that would do the trick? Can they be professionally treated? 

[divorcingjack]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

 

if you have time to wait, find a friend of a friend who works in a furniture factory as an upholsterererer.

 

I have such a tenant, which is perhaps  an unfair advantage :-).

 

I have no idea where furniture is made for Scotland.

 

F

 Lucky you! Do they fancy a holiday in Scotland, I wonder .... 

[Ferdinand]

Perhaps plastic sofa coverings will come back into fashion...

[divorcingjack]

I can only hope. For the meantime, we're going to look at it tomorrow and see what might be salvageable. If we can get it for a reasonable price, it MAY be worth a punt and a call to rentokil. 

[Jeremy Harris]

49 minutes ago, divorcingjack said:

 Bugger. This is what I was concerned about tbh. We do (unusually, I admit) have access to a walk in industrial freezer. If we left it in there for a while, do you think that would do the trick? Can they be professionally treated? 

 

The standard treatment for woodworm years ago was to just put the affected furniture outside during a severe frost.  Seemed to work well, as there aren't many bugs or eggs that will survive being frozen. 

 

Personally, I'd prefer treating something this way than trying to spray it with insecticide, especially as it's really hard to be sure that insecticide has reached every nook and cranny.  Leaving it in a big freezer for a couple of days should pretty much guarantee that all bugs and eggs will be killed off, I think.

 

PS:  Just been checking, and I was right, freezing works well, needs 48 to 72 hours in a deep freeze to kill the blighters: https://www.jgpestcontrol.co.uk/freeze-treatment-for-bed-bugs-insects/

Edited April 29, 2019 by JSHarris
Added info

[divorcingjack]

Excellent! Would this damage the wood frame, do you think? Now, I just have to look at reupholstering costs ... 

[Jeremy Harris]

16 minutes ago, divorcingjack said:

Excellent! Would this damage the wood frame, do you think? Now, I just have to look at reupholstering costs ... 

 

 

I doubt it, as dry timber doesn't generally suffer from any ill effects for being frozen.

[Ferdinand]

Volunteers required with sofa sized freezers...

[divorcingjack]

The freezer we have access to is the size of a shipping container  The sofa, not quite so big. 

[Ferdinand]

Customers required for sofa delousing unit...

[Jeremy Harris]

31 minutes ago, divorcingjack said:

The freezer we have access to is the size of a shipping container  The sofa, not quite so big. 

 

Sounds ideal to me.  A couple of days or so in that should see off anything in the sofa.

[Onoff]

We actually had a RAT get in an old sofa when we first moved in. Gained access to the lounge from under the floor via oversize pipe holes in the walls.

 

Give the cat it's due it did sit and point saying "Oh look a RAT!"

 

Missus moved out to her Mum's for a few days with the baby.

 

Anyone know where I can get another rat?

[divorcingjack]

So, the sofa is not in as bad nick as we thought. There are indeed patches missing, but I'm not 100% convinced that the covers are wool tbh, and all the holes are between the cushions and along edges, so could easily be wear. We'll stick it in the freezer anyway! Just off to site to tape out the size on the floor and make sure it fits